68 responses to “CELEBRATE !!! Greater Dunedin has DIED #boombustcycle”

### ODT Online Thu, 25 Feb 2016Labour ticket for council?
By Chris Morris
The Labour Party is considering standing a block of candidates in this year’s Dunedin City Council election. Dunedin North MP David Clark confirmed yesterday the party was discussing a ticket to promote candidates for council seats, and possibly the mayoralty, under a “Local Labour” banner.Read more

What do people see in this man? Is it his financial prowess? No, certainly not. And yet the National Party who are diametrically opposed to Richard’s political stance have appointed him to positions where he is creaming it. Most puzzling.

Here you go, Elizabeth: my take on Greater Dunedin, who I have observed at the counciil table since their beginning. (Whether by being present or on video and certainly not relying on ODT spin.)
Cull: Useless.
Staynes: Cull’s echo.
Thomson: Bossy and over-confident, gives an illusion of strength and wisdom. But that’s all it is – an illusion. Compassionate to those beneath him as long as they stay beneath him and are not uppity. Talks slowly and hesitantly as if he is going to say something extremely well-thought-out and useful but generally disappoints. Extremely vindictive on occasions to at least one other councillor so definitely has it in his to be nasty. Is not adverse to breaking plenty of eggs to make an omelette which is probably why the Labour Party favoured him as a ‘get it done’ man in the health sector and more recently, a ‘get it fixed’ man for the other lot.
Wilson: Practical, sensible, familiar with council processes which she uphokds but noticeably more stringently in respect of at least one councillor who she clearly finds irritating. Like Cr Thomson, thinks the council is a business, a ‘small business’. (Staynes, in contrast, seems to believe and hope it’s a ‘big business’ – and they’re all wrong, as local government is in a class of its own.) Wilson has served her community to the best of her ability and deserves credit for that. But in character much better suited to being a spokesperson for a small local community that taking on the complexities and inevitable intermittent sheer nastiness of city politics. I haven’t noticed a sense of humour but neither in many of the others so perhaps it’s just that local government is no laughing matter.
MacTavish: Sincere, works and tries very hard. But simply too young in every sense of the word. I cannot imagine her carving out her own path alone in the treacherous thickets and jungles of politics. Think she is vocationally misplaced here and would be better suited in a paid PR position with an environnental organisation. Possible she was taken for a ride and made use of politically as Greater Dunedin’s voter-appeal, sustainability mascot. Think she’s the only one of them who has any depth of knowledge and sincerity regarding sustainability, peak oil, climate change and the rest of it. But makes me worry whether many in her generation will feel that ‘green fascism’ is the only possible way to save other human beings from their own folly.
Would I vote for any of them? Only Mike Lord, mainly because he’s survived three years there without doing or saying anything stupid. And has also managed to distinguish between acting with loyalty to his former political mates and behaving like a sheep, not an easy call.

Greater Dunedin however was simply a shell run by Warwick Johnson, Tony Crick and, I understand, Julian Smith. This shell ran the advertising and election strategies of the various candidates.

So, what has led to this decision?

Could it be that Julian and the ODT have decided to put their weight and influence behind someone else?

Could it be that some of their existing candidates have decided not to stand – maybe Chris Staynes? Maybe the Green Party has decided to get into local body politics in a more open way? Maybe Jinty is getting calls from Wellington? What other job could Dave Cull possibly get that would give him a nice little income, apart from his property investments?

Could Richard do more jobs than he does now?

So many questions…

But the big ones remain and include – what are thinking Dunedinites doing to ensure that this shower gets nowhere near ratepayers’ money again and who will stand that can make a difference?

Uh, oh, binary opposites loom. 2 ‘parties’, Citizens and Ratepayers, and Labour. That was once the way of it. C & R was Nat aligned in Christchurch. I am sorry, I will never vote for Tories, Central or Local. Nor need the city’s future be monopolised by property owners, or the elderly. So, yes, Labour it may be, if Damian Newell is running and JM represents her generation.

Damian Newell is a total dropkick. He was repugnant in the extreme during his vocal support of the stadium. And not one brain cell in his head for prudent stewardship of public money by the DCC. I note his various scale drops down the media ladder. Sad. And completely avoidable. Neil Collins, Dave Cull, 3.

I see. I just knew of him as the man who dressed Edwardian for public events that were, well, Edwardian. Look, the opinion of a DJ, even a TV newsreader, is not of import. Unless. They barricade themselves in the studio saying “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take IT anymore”.

I wonder what made them decide to go their separate ways. There has been no public bitch-slappin’ so my guess is that self preservation kicked in. Looking towards the election, most if not all would have covertly viewed a brother or sister in Greatness and with narrowed eyes seen a drag-anchor, someone whose qualities (lack of) as demonstrated these last 3 or more years have become a flashing signal, “Danger! Liability!”
What to do, chuck one’s perceived liability overboard? But hark, is that an overheard mumble to the effect that you are to be fed to the fishes? Does anyone regard anyone as an asset, an aid to re-election, any more?

Scene, as before. Time, a few days later.
“Doug / Lee / Hilary, here, I’ve brought you a home-made custard square to go with your coffee.”

The current bloc of Greater Dunedin councillors has been a disaster for Dunedin. Instead of working for the people, as they were voted to do, and as they are paid to do, they work as a bloc, repeatedly defending regular council stuff-ups against the people.

Even today on the radio the Mayor is defending Delta losing millions upon millions of ratepayers’ hard earned money, saying they did nothing wrong.

I just about choked.

What company does $13m of work without getting payments along the way? And what company, when not getting paid by a company that is obviously in trouble, buys more debt from the very same company? That’s lunacy.

It is extremely frustrating as a centre left voter to see what is happening in Dunedin on the left.
Here we have the Labour Party wanting to resurrect BP whose star rose and fell years ago. Labour here and elsewhere just doesn’t get it. They have to rejuvenate. Up in Auckland they are promoting Goff. A has been from the Clark era. In New Plymouth they put in Dynhoven for the mayoralty. He lasted one term.
Down here the Green agenda has been sullied by mistakes and misnomers… the South Dunedin floods excuse and the cycleway fiasco being prime examples.
People vote for competence. Whether real or perceived. No wonder given ongoing problems on the left we are facing the real prospect nationally of Key’s National Party winning a fourth term. What a hideous prospect.
Labour. For God sake rejuvenate with decent candidates. Not has beens or people like Damian Newell who sat on Farry’s right shoulder parrotting his lies about the stadium. See the Channel 9 stadium debates to get what I mean.

Let’s not forget our history – for decades we had two parties in our local elections Labour and the “Citizens Association” – the latter being a deniable front for the Nats and basically the mob we now call the “Tartan Mafia” – I remember someone actually tried to join them, you had to be nominated at one meeting and voted at the next, meetings were held every 18 months or so, I bet they could be held more often if they really wanted you in.

At some point in the late 70s someone figured out that the “Citizens Association” wasn’t an incorporated society, promptly incorporated one by the same name and ran their own slate of candidates (to little effect).

Having a Labour (or any) slate is not a big deal, it’s just history repeating itself, the previous Labour councillors were not “controlled from Wellington”, though arguably the Tartan Mafia ticket did have more of a hidden agenda – they owned the smoke filled rooms.

My guess is that Labour’s move has more to do with shoring up the vote in next year’s general election, than an attempt to control the city and create a socialist worker’s paradise.

STV means that having a party doesn’t mean a lot, there’s no list, what a party gives you is a chance to pool your advertising dollars – I think getting elected locally in Dunedin is all about name recognition which counts for a lot.

I agree, Mike, there’s no need to get in a flap about a Labour group. People push the ideas and ideals that are important to them whether or not they are actually members of a political party that also promotes those ideas and ideals. Aaron Hawkins put it well –
“Cr Aaron Hawkins, who was elected as a Green Party candidate in 2013, believed declaring political affiliations was a more transparent approach and “should be encouraged”.
He did not take “directives from Wellington” about what to say, or how to vote, and “in fact, the opposite is probably true”.
“The louder our voice in Wellington, surely the better off we all are?”

Newell was asked to MC an event at St David lecture theatre and used this as an opportunity to promote his views on the stadium. My impression of him is that he is yet another vacant-minded minority radio disc spinner with no discernable skills or talents. Much lower in the media pool than people like Hosking etc but shares the same belief that he is important. In short, a person ideally suited to run the city of Dunedin.

If l am right l think Collins was a Labour man. Another DJ. Look at his contribution! And he got a gong for services to broadcasting…..fair enough……but also to local government.
I know intelligent people are also prone to saying and doing dumb things, but having a basically sharp intellect able to decipher complex information is a prerequisite quality for political office.

The easiest way into being voted to public office is to have a high community profile. Collins did that by means of his radio job, but I can certainly point to any incidence where he displayed any wisdom or abilities to assist in running a City. Indeed from what I was told many times, his main contribution to meetings was to consume the edibles. As for recognition for his “services” to broadcasting? All it needed was a listener from Milton to put his name forward……ah, such cynicism…..

Dave Cull as a frontman in a handyman show gained high community recognition, but as we know, being able to talk to a camera about cutting mdf doesn’t translate at all well into anything resembling abilities to run a city. And he has some disturbing temper issues to go with it as well.

Lots of examples of media people getting into local or public office – Bob Parker and Barry Corbett in Chch spring to mind. But being able to talk on radio or TV doesn’t translate to governance abilities.

@russandbev
February 26, 2016 at 10:17 am
The easiest way into being voted to public office is to have a high community profile.

Agreed. And yes the list is long – Kevin Mills, Neil Collins, Dave Cull, and now Aaron Hawkins with the prospect of Damian Newell in Dunedin, and as you say many more elsewhere.

The high profile provides public recognition and thus a better chance of being elected. But that has never been any measure of their worth. None of them had anything special to offer and from what I can see, Cull because of the power he has been able to wield, could be regarded as doing the most damage. Bob the builder he is not. Certainly this council is the most divided and acrimonious that I have seen over these last 40 or so years.
But the disarray the council is in, that we can all see, is largely down to the inept ‘leadership’ on display at present.

The disbanding of this particular group is a great start to rebuilding the governance of this city.

The Greater Dunedin spin that they had done their job in selecting’decent candidates’ for council……even if you accept this…..does not make sense. GD never got a majority on their own and with the retirement of two to three GD councillors wouldn’t they want to continue on this basis to secure the decency?
No. This is face saving bullshit. I note in recent times Tony Crick has sent a couple of letters to ODT. Can’t recall exact detail,but it wasn’t cheerleader stuff. Mike Lord’s honest comments suggest not everything was great for Greater Dunedin.The tide was out and they knew it.

### dunedintv.co.nz Fri, 26 Feb 2016Mayor seeking third term in office
Candidates are starting to emerge for this year’s local body elections, being held in October. Mayor Dave Cull has announced he’ll stand for another term, which would be his third. But he’s moving away from the group that helped him gain power previously.Ch39 Video

Channel 39 Published on Feb 25, 2016
Mayor seeking third term in office

I never felt Dave Cull had any true political consciousness at all but that what prompted him to seek political office in the first place (with his objective being the mayoralty, even from his first term as a councillor) was the money. The rest of it IMO, was all just another PR/ public presentation job, very likely after other, more political, and locally influential parties had pointed out to him that he could pull it off. And so he could, but only due to the lack of competition and a media-befuddled voting public. His tactics have always been to insist that black is white – repeatedly. And if anyone contradicts him, he just claims they are “playing politics”, the implication being that ‘playing politics’ is something that he, himself, would never do. A tedious ‘broken record’ technique and sad for Dunedin city that, for so many years, it has worked. Unfortunately, it is simply not true that all is well with Dunedin local government just because Dave Cull repeatedly says it is. Is a very bad chairman and, if female, would no doubt have been accused of severe and strangely frequent PMT.

It’s good news for the city that Kate Wilson isn’t standing (CH39). Probably Chris Staynes isn’t either and Mike Lord will have been ejected for disloyalty (rejecting the GD ideology). That only leaves three of them (Cull, MacTavish, Thomson).
The Greater Dunedin brand has been damaged because the GD philosophy has put bicycles before stormwater drains. It makes sense to kill the name, but I think that everything else will be the same: same people, same obsessive beliefs. I am sure the secret pre-meetings will continue. Only three original members, but they will find others. We will know who they are even if they keep the association secret.

You say: The Greater Dunedin brand has been damaged because the GD philosophy has put bicycles before stormwater drains.

Philosophy Give me strength! It has been a mish-mash of incoherent ramblings between a bunch of incompetents with no sense of direction. Just take the South Dunedin flooding as an example. The cycleway debacle was another that comes to mind. You have ‘Clueless Cull’ leading the charge, ‘Turkey Kate’ running in circles headless in total bewilderment, and ‘bring the children on to govern’ MacTavish totally out of her depth. Let’s not mention Thomson – some things are better not mentioned – like the war. There is NO philosophy.

You also say, “Only three original members, but they will find others”.
I hope you are wrong. Can the voters of Dunedin be so stupid to vote for a group lead by such a triumvirate? – Don’t answer that question! Thankfully Lord has left the group. That speaks volumes for me.

Hard working and determined, a loss to several layers of Council and Community. Andrew Noone deserves recognition for his efforts as a rural ward / metropolitan councillor – we go a long way back, we fundamentally disagreed about his support for the stadium build. I rather think he didn’t do the research or the maths for that shiny new toy the Old Boys foisted on the ratepayers.
However, his strengths at DCC have largely been adherence to the maintenance and upgrade of core infrastructure and RMA consents processes. But that’s way too simple, Andrew is an intelligent, pleasant, well-mannered all-rounder – and for that reason he should take his freedom now, get on with a rich and inspiring life – well enough away from the often thankless routine of the council machine where he managed to thrive, excel reasonably, team work, and stay sane and collegial despite the numerous provocations. Thanks ABN.

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### ODT Online Fri, 26 Feb 2016Council veteran ‘unlikely’ to stand
By Chris Morris
Long-serving councillor Andrew Noone says he is “highly unlikely” to seek re-election to the Dunedin City Council. The six-term councillor has represented the Waikouaiti Coast-Chalmers ward for 18 years, but yesterday told the Otago Daily Times it was time for fresh blood.
Read more

Completely agree about Andrew Noone. Simply a nice guy, extremely serious about the responsibility of representing his local community to the best of his ability (in spite of the fact that the completely stupid ward system works against this, rather than for it), plenty of common sense, capable of clear and articulate speech (but nothing unnecessarily fancy – like, for example, Cr Hawkins, who always seems to me to have been practising his ‘sound bites’) – and not nasty to anybody. Not ambitious in a political sense (a quality he shares with Cr Mike Lord). All of the above positive qualities are so rare in Dunedin city councillors that it would be a great loss to the city if he doesn’t stand again, even though his ward has been abolished. Yes, he fell for the stadium hype. But no other black marks against him and it would be a shame to lose the historical knowledge and continuity provided for a new council by such a competent, long-serving councillor.

He also made sure a road realignment went through my property but I can still say he has been a useful councillor particularly in this last term without playing to the charms of Syd and Colin. But no-one is ever perfect in politics…. and we never get to see effectiveness, if it exists at all, in the multiplicity of Cull’s non-public non-transparent flagellations.

Wingatui Flyer: just commenting on what I’ve seen and it’s possible that Noone has fooled me. Or that Cr and former Deputy Mayor Syd Brown fooled Noone. Which wouldn’t surprise me, as I give Syd Brown full credit for being smart with the best political sense of any of them. And capable of fooling just about everyone, and getting away with it.

INFLATED-EGO-SELF-AGGRANDISING-LIGHTLY-SKILLED CHAIRWOMAN KATE WILSON wants Cr Noone’s Hearings Committee chairship – this after ALL the cycleway and drainage/stormwater fuckups (no other word for it) across the city during this her current chairship of the blighted Infrastructure Services Committee.

A less Likely Sitting Candidate for overseeing Core Council Business [consenting/RMA] could not be found.

A ‘make-it-work’ Stadium sympathiser with NO APPRECIATION OF FINANCE, SUBSIDY OR RORTING THE RATEPAYER.

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Dunedin city councillor Kate Wilson says she is now reconsidering her plan to stand down later this year.

### ODT Online Sat, 27 Feb 2016May rethink decision
By Chris Morris
Cr Wilson had previously ruled out standing again in October’s local body elections, but yesterday she said that was now only “99% sure” to be the case. She told the Otago Daily Times changes in her personal circumstances – specifically, the sale of her Middlemarch cafe – meant she was now reconsidering her plans.Read more

How uninformed can you be when water, mud and sewage have been through your house? How uninformed can you be when you’ve seen “street cleaning” that consists of a machine brushing the leaves and crap out of the gutters except everywhere it can’t get to – ie everywhere a car is parked? How uninformed is a neighbourhood of “uninformed” individuals who have compared observations just to make sure it didn’t happen on a day they weren’t home – the mud-trap cleaning, that is?
Is there a sane person who wouldn’t have an opinion, when they’d lived through it? Or indeed when they’d even seen the TV news?
“Opinionated” is, I gather, a naughty form of behaviour consisting of firmly expressing opinions and observations on which they were based, when these do not accord with the view espoused by “informed, educated” pillocks like Cr Wilson and our enchained malady, whose opinions are self-defined as facts.

### ODT Online Sat, 27 Feb 2016Editorial: Local body fundamentals
Dunedin’s political aspirants are starting to show their true colours two months into local body election year, and two surprise announcements are potential game changers when it comes to the make-up of the Dunedin City Council. […] Whatever the make-up of our elected representatives, there are some fundamentals. They should be diligent, open and honest, able to make independent and robust decisions, be financially astute, careful and conscientious, but ambitious and forward-thinking, too. Above all, they should be trustworthy.Read more

Not sure the local newspaper lives up to what it claims as necessary for elected representatives. Hmm

No surprises there. Author is just regurgitating concepts from the previous period. The lead up to elections will be the same drivel probably and eleventh hour articles will be highlighting favourites and screwing over others. No doubt they will abuse their position of influence and run another councillor grading, concealing vote manipulation behind that form of immoral and degrading reporting.

HUGE YAWN – IGNORE DAVE CULL AND THE GREENS WHEN YOU VOTE (they are rubbish through and through).

Mr Hawkins is a strange little fellow.

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The move to increasing political party involvement in local body politics is a polarising issue.

Wed, 1 Jun 2016ODT: Greens to help fund Hawkins staffer
The Green Party funding a paid campaign manager for a Dunedin mayoral candidate is part of a wider trend of the party becoming more involved in local body politics, a politics professor says. […] The position was largely paid for by local fundraising, but the wider party was contributing some of the cost, Cr Hawkins said.

█ Last month, the Labour Party dropped its idea of running a bloc of candidates for Dunedin City Council.

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Aside:

█ Mayor Dave Cull’s “professional assistance” with his campaign is currently the subject of LGOIMA requests to DCC. With more to follow.

This “co-operation” isn’t going to work. It’s blighted and damned near offensive.

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What is certain is that – from a position of rock bottom – Labour has upped the ante and the campaigning has begun in earnest.

Wed, 1 Jun 2016ODT Editorial: United we stand
OPINION Collaboraton, it seems, is the new catchcry. In an announcement that came out of the blue for most people, the Labour Party and the Green Party yesterday confirmed they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, working together with the aim of ousting the National-led Government.

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Mr Little has to win off Mr Key the sorts of voters who want things a bit better but not radically different.

Tue, 31 May 2016ODT: Colin James: Green’s new paradigm and Labour’s need
OPINION Where did people fit in Thursday’s Budget? As a cost. Even Bill English’s vaunted “social investment” is cast as a future cost to be avoided. That opens space for Labour and the Greens, as they prepare to formalise their co-operation, to reframe the Budget process as using people’s taxes to enhance their lives, including by reducing social inequities and building stronger ecosystems.

So that is now the second most important ambition of the green and labour coalition after the nebulous “reducing social inequities”

I’ve got a very fresh start for them that should bring in a raft of real dollar savings.

#1. Reduce social inequities-
Reduce salaries of top 100 executives in every gov’t or local gov’t workplace by half. That will definitely reduce social inequities and save billions of stolen taxpayer monies.

#2. Build Stronger Ecosystems
1. Eradicate all cats without microchip or not home after 8pm.
2. Eradicate Possums at 1,000,000 p.a
3. Eradicate Stoats, Weasels, Ferrets and any other squalids by any means possible.
4. Eliminate cyclelanes, get cyclists to ride on the grass, that will save a lot of tar and a lot of water runoff.
5.Be friendly to dogs and train them to eat cats, Dogs do not eat much bird life and tend to go home for dinner, rather than out.

“Eradicate all cats without microchip or not home after 8pm.” Cats cannot tell the time. Cats with a Siamese or Persian ancestor fluctuate between NZ and Thai / Iranian local time. Then there’s daylight saving……

Last I heard Hype, Cats don’t get a vote! If they could then you can bet your last dolero that they would vote green to protect their interests.

If you want a measurable time for cats make it from dusk (Dark, absence of light, sun goneberger etc) and then the cats will know when to hightail it for the kittydoor. However there has been no cat equivalent of Pavlov’s dogs so maybe Cats just won’t get the message, which will please the bird lobby.

“Mr Hawkins is a strange little fellow.”
No he’s not. He’s a determined young career politician, following a carefully mapped path from student politics to Council to (he intends) Mayor.
If that’s the end of his ambition I’d be surprised: MP >> PM, wanna bet? Possibly via a stint on MP’s or the party’s staff in Wellington.

Come on, you must have noticed the proliferation of Career Politicians, people who have no work experience outside politics; politicians’ offsiders, fundraisers, publicists, spindoctors and handbag carriers.
The politician with “work experience in the Big Ol’ Real World” is becoming a rare >> endangered species.

We agree – up to a point. I’d much rather have politicians who have lived and worked a considerable distance from other politicians for 10-20 years before standing for parliament BUT I disagree that “Mr Hawkins is a strange little fellow.” He’s now one of a common species crawling and handshaking their way up the ladder to the Beehive to Do Good for (to?) us, or to do us like a dinner.

Cr Hawkins is an open honest campaigner. Who else have you ever seen prepared to stand by his/her ‘brain’ openly displayed in the Octagon. Maybe Dave Cull, but in his case it would be difficult without a magnifying glass.

It’s a pity Labour is not also running a formal ticket of new, fresh candidates…. instead of retreads who belong to the Labour Party, but are not willing to declare their allegiance to the party.
Same goes for the Nats and their bedfellows on the Right. Transparency, isn’t it? It happens in Europe.